#wfc shockwave

[scourgeofmyownbrain]

Only one guy on here has two eyes, and even then, they're fake eyes. It's big-tits-McGee, Mr. logic man extraordinaire, Geneva Suggestion Believer himself: Shockwave! Yep, all 12 of him, a reasonable amount of alternates to have, unlike some people... Shockwave Height Chart, everyone, fuckin wee.

Edit: I didn't like the old scaling I had so I changed it. The old chart is at the end of this post.

Quick Disclaimer, if any of the images look weird, it's because I had to stitch a few separate images together to create a full body shot of the character.

Here are links to my Bumblebee Chart, my Optimus Chart, my Megatron Chart, and my Soundwave Chart. !!NEW!! -> Ratchet & Ironhide. Please go gawk at how many Optimus designs there are, sweet fuck, there are so many. For future reference, all these charts will be filed under my "Transformers Height Charts" tag and my "aka the adventures of a..." tag.

Master Post

Explanations and Sources below the cut.

Unicron Trilogy Energon - ~14 feet 3 inches (No actual source, and Energon doesn't have any listed heights anywhere. For the uneducated, the Unicron Trilogy has given each of its 3 seasons separate names and 3 separate art styles. This is the design used in Energon (S2) though he only shows up in Energon. I was able to compare him to Optimus, and using Cybertron's listed heights, I got this number. I am in physical pain, it does not get better from here. Hilarious side note, his Japanese name is Laserwave, which contains the missing "wave" of Shockwave in this iteration's name.)

Earth Spark - ~15 feet (No actual source for ES, but using a barn door to get Bumblebee's height, then Optimus's, then Megatron's height, I was able to make a guess at Shockwave's. Shockwave comes up to about Megatron's chin; I lost the screenshot I used. It's so convoluted, I know, but it's all I have, also, tiny universe, everyone is so small)

TFA Longarm/V1 - 15 feet 2 inches (Animated has no actual numbers, but the lovely @phoenix-inanis has provided a frankly astounding resource with their own calculations for the heights of all the TFA characters. Go look at it, it's wonderful -> https://phoenix-inanis.notion.site/TFA-Height-Chart-f6ad2960ca8c4c5b859ee4958723aaa4?pvs=4)

Gen 1 - ~18 feet (TFWiki, uuuuh I've got nothing to add)

Netflix Cybertron Trilogy - ~18 feet (I have no source for this, other than assuming that because this design is identical to Gen 1, they are the same height. That's it, really)

Knight/Capel-Verse - ~18 feet (No source, and he never stands next to anyone I can measure him against, but because the TFOne director has said that this movie is both canon to the LA movies and its own separate canon, I am assuming the height I figured out for TFOne applies to this universe as well. Until proven otherwise. Capel directed the ROTB movie if you're wondering why his name is there)

One - ~18 feet (No source, I got this number by comparing him to Optimus. Now, I am aware of the TFO heights listed on the wiki, but I reject those numbers on principal. A: Those numbers are sourced from the Walmart Promotional AR Experience that came out before the movie. B: There are three decimal points, and that number does not convert into a whole number in meters (which is originally what I thought was weird about it). C: The director has said that this movie is both canon to the LA movies and its own separate canon, so I have elected to use the few given heights we have from KCV and worked from there. My Optimus post has slightly more context if you want it)

Cyberverse - 20 feet (This comes from a screenshot of this video which has the Cyberverse height chart everyone uses, though the quality of the screenshot is iffy.)

Aligned Cont. WF/FOC/TFP - 26 feet 2 inches (This number comes from Fandom and I completely believe it, even if they don't list their source, because the entirety of this universe is freakishly tall. Go look at my other charts, all the ALC designs are monstrous compared to the others)

TFA V2 - 29 feet 11 inches (Once again, phoenix-inanis did a fuck ton of work, go look at it, it's wonderful -> https://phoenix-inanis.notion.site/TFA-Height-Chart-f6ad2960ca8c4c5b859ee4958723aaa4?pvs=4)

Bayverse - ~30 feet (Ok, so I don't have a source for this one. There used to be one, BV Shockwave used to be listed as 40 feet tall bc of an article done to promote the movie, but that is no longer listed for reasons not known to me, and making some comparisons to Optimus, I have found them to be kinda close in height. It's very hard to actually validate any of this. Shockwave never stands normally next to anything I can use as a ruler at any point in the movie. He's always at a dramatic angle or partially covered by something in the shot. It's so violently frustrating. I am confident he is around this height though, I just can't figure out how much taller than Optimus he is)

And that's it. I didn't have to leave any designs out, all of them are included here (hopefully). It was so nice to work with a character where I wasn't drowning in 20+ designs across every goddamn universe.

Edit: Here are the different layers separated.

vvv Old scale vvv

[wichwitchisit-blog]

I think I really love Shockwave

[pocoslip]

If they ever do Studio Series Gamer Edition WFC Shockwave, I don't mind a Brimstone Repaint

(If Takara Hasbro can't make a New Cybertron Brimstone Toy anyway)

[antenanotaic3]

look him in the eye and tell him no

[abeee-0]

Merry Christmas everyone!

[mubthemoff]

[dormiloncito]

the thing about transformers is that they really get you with the toys

[name-is-tired]

I lied I couldn't find a way to add the primes (yet tho DW) and I didn't feel like doing TC and SW yet so more shockwave content. Part of the au in previous posts. The next post of the au is going to be with soundwave to match with this (it will give more information).

So yeah my reason that empurata isn't a thing is that he's younger here and also the council isn't able to do that also it doesn't exist. That's why I kept some similarities to his usual face with the colours and soundwave.

My plan is to post some intros and lore of this au for a bit and then I'll stop so I can practice drawing so I can give more content and also maybe writing.

[tiny-tf-faces]

[datharlequinoni]

Transformers Generations WFC: Siege IDW Impactor, Shockwave Netflix Deep Cover (G2 Deep Cover)

[cosmics-beings]

So i LOVE wfc megatron but if i had one complaint about him, it's just how easily he allows shockwave to walk over him. he is too passive for my liking. it's like this is shockwave's movement now , not megatrons. if he put shockwave in his place, at the very beginning and didn't let shockwave speak over him or manipulate him, then things would've been much easier. there was jetfire who was at least, some moral compass but even he just kinda sat on his hands while they tortured the shit out of his boyfriend, i mean magnus. Megatron gets mad at starscream every so often for just, existing and honestly chilling and yeah he talks a lot, but megatron's anger needs to be directed toward shockwave. and soundwave is also kinda chilling letting shockwave do shit.

like it's just so surprising that the ONLY reason megatron truly lost his way, the cause and became a bad leader in the wfc is because he couldn't stand up to, or put shockwave in his place. while i love this megatron, especially his voice, it seems like he just doesn't know how to stand his ground and is easily swayed and that was seen early on. and that is just so annoying to me because he has a clear vision of his movement/cause and shockwave can come along and just say some dumb shit repackaged as smart shit and megatron listens.

[quantumlogician]

Pony Maker

Tagged by: @mnemoiisms

Tagging: Anyone who hasn't done this.

[pocoslip]

When Bumblebee and Everyone Except Thundercracker got Mechtech Weapons

(Wish I got Both G1 Styled Sideswipe Figure and a Mechtech Chainsaw Gun for Earthrise Thundercracker too)

[truuskn]

i find it really curious how differently elita may experience and react to similar events in her life in different universes. and before we begin, let's close our eyes to the fact that different writers worked on these two images, that the show and the comics differ greatly in ideas, atmospheres, ratings, etc, etc :D

i think wfc elita and skybound elita are her possible best version and her worst version, and i'm talking about her as a person, not as a character. two extremes, two paths she can step on. in two very similar worlds she can either rise up or break down

in skybound we see how war can disfigure elita, weaken her spirit, torment her spark, almost destroy her personality. her entire being is built on saving cybertron and resisting decepticons and it did not affect her in a positive way. there is nothing left in her life but struggle, pain and an animal hatred for the enemy and anyone who dares to take a step away from her views. she is cruel, cynical, she praises the fire in arcee, noticing how fiercely she wants revenge for ultra magnus, how she lashes out at shockwave, threatening his life (while optimus talks arcee out of hurting another living being, even decepticon, reminding her of what it means to be an autobot), she cheers the violence from prime, enjoying his momentary return to his former self (while optimus is sickened by the realisation of what he's just done). she really is the worst version of herself. she's not a bad person, no. but she's broken. and it's leading her down a completely new, unfamiliar for us scenario. the ruthless world has inflicted the worst wounds on her and this time she had no strength left to remain herself

despite everything, she's still an autobot, of course, she's an autobot! there is no world where things would be different. but... it's just that the concept of this term have blurred for her over the years. hope, faith in the best in every person, forgiveness, choice not in favor of violence but of words, caring for everyone in need and so on and so forth - all of these is forgotten by her. now it's a weakness, not an advantage. perhaps, a long time ago she had joined the autobots inspired by prime's speeches, fully sharing his belief in a bright, fair future, but those days are gone. that elita is gone. now being an autobot for her is solely about fighting and destroying the decepticons from the face of cybertron. her and optimus still have similar goals, but critical different desires, opinions and approaches. they both want peace. they both want to give their people a new, free life. but if optimus is ready to wait, temporarily step off or even move on, ready to shift his focus on another planet, then elita will never be able to let go of cybertron, not for a single second, no matter what's going on around them. she's not ready to put aside centuries of suffering, she's not ready to forget all the sacrifices they've made in trying to stop the invaders, she can't forget all those fallen soldiers, ruined lives and lost years so easily. she's not ready to prioritise anyone else. the centre of her life is cybertron and the autobots. and nothing in the world can change that. she means no harm to earth, she means no harm to optimus, but she will do anything to protect her home

wfс elita lives similar life. she’s at the lowest point of her existence. a dying, blighted cybertron. a completely decimated autobot army. she, abandoned, alone, leads frustrated and frightened soldiers just like her. no hope for optimus' return, no faith in her people's victory, the fight for justice and a better world is over, now the only goal is to simply try to survive. it couldn't be worse. elita started losing faith in the autobot cause a long time ago, each day she understood less and less what they continued to fight for, she grew disappointed, lost her fervour, and now, in the most scary time, it would seem that anyone would gave up. but not her. this world was breaking her, was trying to break her, but she kept holding on, clinging to optimus' hope, continuing to follow him and his beliefs, never taking a step into the darkness

she never forgot what set her apart from her enemy and as much as she hated them all, she would never dare to hurt them the way they hurt her. she decided for herself once and for all - she will not stoop to their level, she won't let her fears corrupt the reasons she became an autobot in the first place. no matter how much pain she was in, no matter how desperately she wanted to end it all in any way, she never gave up snd continued to march proudly forward, protecting each and every one of them to the last drop of her blood, helping even the opponent's soldiers when needed. she fought for her planet and for all its people, for all those who called cybertron their home. megatron would pay the worst price for what he had done, but no one else would pay for his sins. she will not allow the hatred to spread further. she knows how to forgive. she doesn't forget, but she lets go of grudges. because she knows someone has to be first, someone has to set an example, that's always been the point of the autobots. and you know what? skybound elita would never do that. she wishes the decepticons nothing but harm, nothing but the trial of terror and fear that they, the autobots, have felt all these years because of them. if it were up to her, they, every last one of them, would burn with hell flame, as much longer as it's possible

it turns out that the same fight can lead to very diverse consequences... i'm amazed by that difference, honestly

oh, and the last - their main similarity, the thing that's happening in most of her stories. elita loses optimus. maybe it's their fate to be separated forever, huh?

wfc elita let optimus go. she realised that his departure was inevitable and important. perhaps, she thought it was a mistake, yes, she was unsure of his plan, she was afraid of losing him and she did try to talk him out of it, but she knew that he believed it was the right thing to do and if optimus believed, then so would she. she believed, but she chose her own path. without any regrets. she was saddened, hurt by their parting, optimus was one of the most important things to her and it would be hard to continue without him as a leader and soulmate, she needed him, they all needed him. but if fate was to take him away from her and their fight, so be it. it's her job to protect cybertron. and she can handle it. even if she has to act alone

for skybound elita optimus' departure, his willingly choice of earth, was the last straw. time after time she had withstood every blow dealt to her by fate but this? cybertron did not just lose optimus prime. optimus prime betrayed them. he made that decision on his own. he abandoned them, chose outsiders over his own people and his own home, denied them, lost, frightened, begging him for help, needing him more than anything else. it was truly the worst thing that had ever happened to her, the cruelest and most vile event of her entire life, and this pain was brought by the person most precious to her. she's in hell. the real hell. but she's not giving up. because elite-one never gives up. she wipes away her tears, gets up off her knees, picks up her gun and continues her fight. okay. if he's not going to do what he has to do, she will. she's cybertron's only hope, she truly is

[mubthemoff]

Idk how to feel because someone abso-fucking-lutely knew and everyone is so mean to him

[blueikeproductions]

Zeta Prime as the 13th Prime is admittedly unusual.

Conceptually, the 13 were initially meant to be an intentionally vague group shrouded in mystery. It wasn’t until the Bay Fallen that the Primes began being fleshed out as a group more, with The Fallen, Alpha Trion, Liege Maximo, Vector Prime, Prima and Maccadam chosen to properly be members of the group. To fill in the gaps and explain other series concepts Onyx, Solus, Nexus, Micronus, Amalgamous and Quintus were created.

That left one unaccounted for.

Aligned tried to be cute about, by dubbing them “The Arisen”, another Prime like The Fallen whose name was stricken from history, but unlike Megatronus, The Arisen was highly regarded.

In actuality, the 13th was Optimus.

Perhaps a decades late overreaction to 80’s kids horrified at Optimus dying, and Rodimus as such not being embraced, Aligned opted to make Optimus so special, so meant to be a Prime, he WAS one of the 13.

This … isn’t exactly a popular idea among fans, as it greatly lessens the appeal that Optimus EARNED his position, rather than he simply already WAS Prime. This probably is meant to tie into the Dynasty of Primes concept from the movies that was fleshed out more in the IDW movie comics. I think it worked better there because it was just a one off thing, and Optimus didn’t even believe he was Prime, and was too humble to accept it.

Aligned would explain it as Optimus sacrificing himself on ancient Cybertron and being reborn into Orion Pax, minus his memories. TFP and RiD15 would mimic this… multiple times, having Optimus live up to being the Arisen, but that this specific cycle keeps happening makes me think the Arisen has a thinly disguised fetish.

Other media like Forged to Fight, Cyberverse and IDW would also use this concept to some extent, the simplified version being the 13th Prime is the one that was destined to truly bare the Matrix. Everyone else was just keeping it warm for him.

This typically means Optimus, except for Prime Wars where Rodimus, Optimus and finally Optimus Primal bore the Matrix, with the Boss Monkey being Optimus Prime’s true successor while Hot Rod was in a coma after being overshadowed by Unicron.

IDW saw Optimus use the religious colonists’ belief in The Arisen as a political tool to ensure Cybertron, Earth and related planets stay United. The Arisen was also one of the ancient tribal Primes, though we never got a proper look at him. Shockwave, having gone back to the past, would say Optimus truly is the Arisen, but the matter was intentionally left vague and never addressed.

Forged to Fight leaned more in the original Aligned concept, where The Fallen immediately recognized Optimus as the 13th, but Optimus has no clue what he was on about.

Cyberverse tries to split the difference. Optimus is marked as the 13th Prime when he dies in the Robo-Robotnik universe, and joins the Matrix. In the main universe, Zeta Prime is implied to be among the 13 Primes, as a power mad Starscream names several Scraplets after them.

Because of TFONE looking to greatly simplify things, the somewhat complex idea of the Arisen was tossed aside in favor of sticking Zeta Prime in the role instead. Not to mention Orion being preordained to be Optimus doesn’t fit at all for the story the movie is trying to tell.

But who is Zeta?

Well…

He’s more a concept than a character. He doesn’t really have a preexisting counterpart from Marvel or Dreamwave to give us an idea of what he’s like.

His origins seem to lie in the WFC game.

While his colors evoke Marvel and Animated Sentinel, it appears there was conflicting ideas on what his name was. The game studio declared he was Zeta Prime, while Hasbro insisted he was Sentinel Prime, with ultimately the character becoming “Sentinel Zeta Prime”. The game still calls him Zeta nonetheless, with ancillary media describing him as a former, fiery military officer who lost touch with the robots he represented. He was responsible for chasing off the Quints and ushering in the Golden Age with the various Colony Worlds until the Rust Plague happened, forcing the Space Bridges to be shut down. That seemed to mark the downfall of Zeta going forward, as he was also the Prime that retained the Quints’ oppressive caste system that Megatron (and Orion Pax) rose up against.

Hasbro’s insistence he was Sentinel persisted in the Covenant of Primus, where his younger self resembled TFA Sentinel Prime, along with having an association with the Elite Guard.

This connection to Sentinel is semi referenced in TFONE, as Zeta was the first Matrix barer, with a power hungry Sentinel shooting him dead and eagerly tearing into his chest to claim the Matrix. Perhaps this was meant to be a meta gag on the writers’ part, with Sentinel going “I’m the guy before Optimus, not you, ya pompous poser!”

The only other Zeta that we know of is from IDW, a significant Prime that like Nova Prime, influenced a lot of the lore.

Initially he looked like this.

Your typical IDW “OC”, with him eventually donning on armor that became his standard look.

I swear someone on staff at the time clearly liked Digimon, because that is straight up Seraphimon.

It even had the loin cloth sash thing.

Other artists would Roboticize the design, making the Seraphimon influence less obvious though.

What this version of Zeta Transforms into is never specified, but with IDW original villains tending to favor flying machines, I’m going with a jet.

Zeta and Orion Pax were former students of Shockwave (pre-emotionless cyclops), both being seen in having greatness to being a Prime. Zeta became Prime after Sentinel’s “death”, fulfilling Shockwave’s desires. Zeta would become Orion‘s teacher and friend, but like Megatron, Orion would notice Zeta increasingly slip into megalomania, the stress of the early Great War against the Decepticons growing, feeding Zeta’s own lust for power. The mask finally having slipped, Zeta Prime used a “Vamparc Ribbon” in an attempt to wipe out the Decepticons or any form of rabble rousers, nor particularly caring who or what the ribbon sucked the Energon out of in the process. Orion and Megatron saw fit to team up against a mutual enemy and destroyed him, though the Great War waged on regardless.

TFONE Zeta Prime visually draws inspiration from his WFC counterpart, though simplified and a bit more ancient looking. While the character model is clearly blue and gold, the in movie model looks more dark gray-ish to me, somewhat evoking Liege and Prima.

We know very little about him, though as he is worthy of carrying the Matrix, clearly he wasn’t at all like his psychotic IDW counterpart. Perhaps the stand out thing is Zeta is the first Prime to carry the Matrix here, as that usually goes to Prima. Presumably this is a vestigial nod to the old “the 13th is the true Matrix barer”, as Optimus later is the only other Prime to carry it, completing the reference. Despite this, the Primes wax on about Orion’s bravery and self sacrifice to protect his friends and expose Sentinel, dodging the preordained Optimus thing.

A notable fan theory states that Optimus’ axe on the finale might be donated from Zeta thru the Matrix, as he too carries an axe as his signature weapon.

This seems to suggest that on top of needing to simply the Prime concept, perhaps Hasbro is moving away from the concept of “The Arisen” altogether. It also implies, with the use of Zeta, the 13th can be anyone a particular story needs it to be, referencing the original concept of the Arisen being a “mystery” anyway.

I think what bugs me more is The Arisen feels like a reinterpretation of Hot Rod’s chosen one role from the original movie and Marvel comics. Modern material is pretty dead set that the Prime lineage ends with Optimus, another instance of ignoring Rodimus.

But Hot Rod & Rodimus Prime fit this Arisen role so much better, due to the Marvel Comics better emphasizing Rodimus’ connections to Primus.

As Primus in his original form more heavily resembles Rodimus.

I would like to think that if the 13th Prime is free to be anyone, that some writers will take advantage of that and stick Rodimus in the role, where he reincarnates in the modern era as Hot Rod and arises once more as Rodimus Prime. It’d be nice to give Rodimus some respect for once, rather than being the whipping boy of angry nerds ala the IDW Deviations comic or, to some extent, MTMTE/LL. We got a better outcome in ReGen One, hopefully that can be replicated in a future cartoon or the Energon Universe somehow since Hot Rod is a major character in Void Rivals. Incidentally, Hot Rod exists in the One universe also, so if the story continues, maybe we could see TFONE Rodimus at some point.

As for Zeta, we’ll have to wait and see if future material keeps him as the 13th and if so, if they try fleshing him out more. Maaaaybe leave the IDW interpretation in the past tho’, or at least reinterpret the Vamparc Ribbon as both a Solus invention and a weapon of last resort Zeta doesn’t like using if we want to let him as the good guy.